defense left searching for answers

[aubiefifty 18,235]

Auburn’s defense left searching for answers after issues against Penn State

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-7 minutes

---

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford (14) scrambles away from Auburn defensive end Colby Wooden (25) during an NCAA college football game against Auburn in State College, Pa., on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)AP

There were two major issues for Auburn defensively against Penn State — the Tigers couldn’t affect Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford in the pocket, nor could they slow him through the air.

The results were disastrous for Auburn in its 28-20 loss in Happy Valley, as Clifford methodically picked the Tigers apart while guiding his team to another top-25 win. The veteran quarterback put together a career effort Saturday night, completing 28-of-32 passes for 280 yards and a pair of touchdowns, as the Tigers struggled to contain the Nittany Lions’ passing attack.

“Obviously, we didn’t top the pass efficiently enough,” Auburn linebacker and team captain Chandler Wooten said. “…We just got to be better in coverage; that goes for safeties, corners, linebackers — everybody involved. It’s not on one person, one unit; we all got to be better.”

Clifford completed a career-best 87.5 percent of his pass attempts against Auburn, which has had a difficult time keeping opponents’ completion rates low this season while adjusting to first-year defensive coordinator Derek Mason’s off-man and zone coverage schemes.

Through three games, Auburn is allowing teams to complete 78.7 percent of their passes, which ranks last among FBS teams. The Tigers have allowed two of their first three opponents to complete at least 80 percent of their passes after not allowing a single team to accomplish that since Kentucky (82.8 percent) in 2010.

Clifford became the latest to take advantage of Auburn’s pass defense, as he was surgical with the ball on Saturday night in Beaver Stadium. His lone mistake came late in the second quarter, when he was intercepted by Roger McCreary near the goal line. After that interception, Clifford responded by completing all 12 of his second-half pass attempts, totaling 112 yards after halftime. He also completed 12 of his previous 13 pass attempts prior to that interception, with both of his touchdown passes coming in that span.

It wasn’t just that Clifford was efficient against Auburn; it’s that the Tigers also gave up seven chunk plays in the passing game. Clifford completed six passes of at least 15 yards, while wide receiver Jahan Dotson had a 22-yard completion on a trick play. That successful gadget play was a bow on top of a big day for Dotson, who gave the Tigers headaches as he caught 10 of his 12 targets for 78 yards and a touchdown.

While Auburn’s secondary had its own issues in coverage, with Penn State receivers at times wide open downfield, the defense’s issues were compounded by an inability to generate a consistent pass rush. After totaling nine sacks through the first two games of the season, Auburn did not register a sack against Penn State, and the Tigers were only credited with one quarterback hurry — courtesy of Zakoby McClain on the play that resulted in McCreary’s second-quarter interception.

“There was one he stood back there for what seemed like 10 seconds early in the game; I thought we had a better pass rush after that,” Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said. “But you’ve got to find ways to get after the quarterback, and you’ve got to find ways to get the ball out of his hands.”

Even when Auburn was able to get into the backfield, Clifford found ways to extend some plays with his legs and buy time or make throws to the perimeter, which Harsin said goes back to coverage.

“If you can get after the passer and create some of those lanes, then he’s got to work through it,” Harsin said. “He’s good and he’s mobile and he’s able to do those things, so I didn’t think that we would keep him in the pocket the entire time. But we’ve got to do a better job of that. If guys are scrambling, we’ve got to continue to keep covering our man and not getting a throw downfield — or at least make it a contested catch and try to get a hand on the ball.”

That was missing Saturday, as Auburn did not record a pass breakup in the loss. The career 60.3 percent passer looked like a superstar against a flustered Auburn defense that fought all night to keep the team within striking distance.

For all the issues Auburn had against the pass, the defense was sound against the run while limiting Penn State to 2.7 yards per carry and got enough stops to give the Tigers’ offense chances to try to mount a comeback down the stretch. Auburn got a stop on a fake punt in the third quarter, and then late in the game with the team trailing by eight, the defense forced a three-and-out and four-and-out on Penn State’s final two possessions.

Ultimately, it wasn’t enough to overcome the issues with the pass defense throughout the night, which Mason and his defensive staff will have to address and make the requisite adjustments for as the team tries to bounce back from a gutting loss on the road.

“We’ve got a group of fighters,” Wooten said. “Obviously, we didn’t get the outcome we wanted but everybody played extremely hard. That’s just the kind of standard that has been set here at Auburn before us. That is the standard. It stings right now, but it’s supposed to.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.